The Complex Story Of The Optimistic, Happy African

"They have so little, yet they are so happy." This is a usual refrain in many fundraising initiatives—one meant to get the person in front of the screen to ponder their own relatively opulent but miserable life. The viewer will then feel grateful for their own life, or perhaps guilty for not being happier despite not having as many problems as the person behind the screen. 

In this article, this paradox is explored, but on a grander scale. 

And while, say, Europeans have remained skeptical about the future, Africans—bedeviled by bad infrastructure, terrorism, and poor living standards—have consistently shared a more positive outlook.

But is ranking high on surveys of optimism and resilience the same thing as actually being happy with the situation many Africans find themselves in? 

The most visible sign that Africans aren’t happy with their conditions is the high numbers of desperate migrants trekking across the Sahara and into Libya in order to reach Europe. 

The numbers do, however, speak for themselves—despite everything, Africans are still among the most positive people in the world. 

In bestseller Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl chronicles his life as a concentration camp inmate and reflects on existential questions. The Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and holocaust survivor wrote that: "Those who have a 'why' to live, can almost bear with any 'how'." That is likely what the article uncovers: the fact that the collectivist nature of African cultures and the religiosity of people on the continent gives them the 'why' to live and enables them to deal with all the different 'hows'.

In a world where happiness has become requisite, these networks, rooted in African humanism and Ubuntu, allow people the comfort to express whatever they are feeling at any given moment—and expect unconditional support.